The British Jet-powered, Flying boat Fighter plane

The application area of flying boats has mostly been restricted to things like coastal patrols and firefighting, but back at the dawn of the jet age there were some audacious attempts at creating waterborne fighter jets. The earliest example of combining the advantages of jet propulsion and the capability to land on and take off the water was the British Saunders-Roe SR.A/1 aircraft. Designing flying boats had been a priority of the Isle of Wight-based Saunders-Roe company (SARO) since its establishment in 1929.